Art of making seamless tubes



(No Modem 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. W. H. BROWN.

ART OF MAKING SEAMLESS TUBES.

.3 Patented Jan. 81, 1888.

ffifn 6556-5.

N. PETERS Pholn-Lilhoguphun Wamingw". D (I (No Model.) 2 Sheets Sheet 2,

- W. H. BROWN.

ART OF MAKING SEAMLESS TUBES.

No. 377,648; v Patented Jan. 31, 1888.

IlNrTEo STATES PATENT @FFICE VILLIAM HENRY BROWN, F JERSEY CITY, NEWJERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE BROWVNS SEAMLESS METAL COMPANY, OF NElV JERSEY.

ART OF MAKING SEAMLES$ TUBES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 377,348, dated January31, 1888.

(No model.)

' To aZZ whom it may concern/.-

Be it known that 1. WILLIAM HENRY BROWN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of NewJersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Manufacture ofSeamless Metal Cylinders and Tubes, of which the following is aspecification, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to the manufacture of seamless cylindcrs,of steelor other metal or alloy,either open throughout as tubes or closed at oneend to constitute vessels or receptacles or parts thereof; and thepurpose of my improvement is to produce cylinders and tubes having allthe good qualities of cylinders and tubes produced entirely by theprocess known as drawing at a very much less cost.

According to my Letters Patent No. 316,600, 2c dated April 28, 1885, andNo. 348,718, dated September 7, 1886, I manufacture seamless cylindersfrom disks or blanks of metal by first subjecting the metal in a hotstate to a series of folding operations, whereby its form is changedfrom the flat to the cylindrical, and

afterward subjecting it in a cold state to drawing operations,by whichthe cylinders are condensed, consolidated, tempered, and finished. Mypresent invention may be considered as an improvement upon that process,the object of the improvement being to reduce the number of repetitionsof the cold-drawing operation, which is expensive by reason of the greatpower required for that operation and of the costly machinery necessaryfor its frequent repetition.

According to my present process I submit the metal, between the twostages 0r operations of hot-folding and cold-drawing, which 0 constitutemy patented processes hereinabovementioned to intermediate operations ofalternate longitudinal rolling and circumferential rolling, whereby Icondense and compact the metal while it is hot and ductile, leaving less5 to be accomplished by the cold-drawing process.

The preliminary shaping operations by which the disk or blank is broughtto the cylindrical form, and from that of a shorter cylinder to that ofa longer cylinder of smaller caliber without reduction of thickness, maybe varied without departing from my invention. For instance, the diskmay first have its edges turned in by an ordinary Hanging-machine, andthe cup thus formed may be afterward brought successively to the formsof longer and longer cylinders of less and less diameterby means of diesand mandrels passing longitudinally through said dies; or it may be doneby means of a machine substantially like that which is the subject ofUnited Letters Patent to O. V. Minard, No. 14,696, dated April 15, 1856,the metal being heated previous to the working in said machine, andbeing kept heated by a gas-flame during such working. 6 The succeedingoperations of longitudinal rolling and circumferential rolling to whichthe hot cylinders of metal are alternately subjected are performed on acold mandrel, upon which the longitudinal rolling may be done in anordinary rolling-mill with grooved rollers, and the circumferentialrolling may be done between flat plates, one or both of which has areciprocating motion by which the cylinder and contained mandrel arerolled on their axis between the said plates.

As I do not now intend to claim any novelty in the machinery by which myinvention is performed, but my process can be performed by machinerywhich is well known to iron and steel workers, it is not necessary tothe explanation of my invention to make any full representation of thatmachinery by drawings; but it will be sufficient to illustrate it by afew simple diagrams, which I will now explain.

Figure 1 illustrates the changes of profile form through which the metalpasses in the conversion of the disk or blank into a cylinder ofconsiderable length in proportion to its caliber by folding or gatheringit in without mao terial reduction of thickness. Fig. 2 is a diagramshowing the successive reductions of both caliber and thickness to whichthe cylinders are subjected by the alternate longitudinal andcircumferential rolling. Figs. 3 and a are sectional views of a plungerand die which may be used for the reduction of the metal in cylindricalshape as far as required before the reduction of thickness is to becfmetal cylinder and the contained mandrel and parts of a pair of rollsbetween which the cylfected. Fig. 5 is a transverse section of a inderis longitudinally rolled on the mandrel. Fig. 6 is a transverse sectionof a cylinder and mandrel and parts of two plates between which thecylinder is circumferentially rolled on the mandrel.

Similar letters of reference designate corresponding partsin all thefigures.

After turning in the edges of the disk by a fianging-machine or othermeans to bring it to the form B, Fig. 1, the succeeding operations ofconversion into cylinders O D E of successively greater lengthandsmaller caliber may be performed by a series of cylindrical mandrelsor plungers, F, and dies G, of correspond ingly-dinlinishing diameter, aproper propor tion being observed between the external caliber of eachplunger or mandrel and that of its corresponding die to preservebetweenall the corresponding plungers or mandrels and dies a uniformwidth of space, so that the metal between the successive operationsinsaid dies may be simply turned, folded, or gathered in over the mandrelor plunger without being reduced or materially reduced in thickness.This operation is illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4., the former of whichfigures represents the cylinder G as placed upon the die G ready for theaction of the plunger F, which forces it through said die and brings itto a smaller caliber and increased length, as illustrated by D in Fig.4.

In the figures last referred to the dies G are represented as fittedwith strippers H, of a well-known kind, controlled by springs c, for thepurpose of stripping the cylinders from the mandrel as the latterretires from the die.

For the succeeding operations of longitudinal rolling, the semicirculargrooves in the rolls I I, (see Fig. 5,) through which the cylinders areto be successively passed, are of successively smaller width and depth,as shown at e e 0 c and the mandrels ffff on which the cylinder is to besuccessively placed to be rolled in the said grooves, are successivelyof smaller diameter; but the diminution of diameter of the mandrels isnot so great as the diminution of width of their corresponding groovesin the rollers, and hence the cylinders in their successive. passagesthrough the smaller and smaller grooves of the rolls are not onlyreduced in caliber, but are reduced in thickness at every pass, asillustrated by reference to the cylinders g g g g in Fig. 2, withacorresponding increase of length.

Between every two successive passes of the cylinder through thedifferent grooves of the rolls I I for longitudinal rolling the cylinderand the mandrel on which it was longitudinally rolled is to be rolledbetween the plates J J of the flat-rolling mill. This is necessary toprovide for the loosening of the cylinder on the mandrel, and it alsohas the effect of eon- (lensing and compacting the metal, and by thesealternate and successive operations of longitudinal and circumferentialrolling the metal is made very dense and tough. The final rolling isalways performed circumferentially to the cylinder between the plates ofthe fiat-rolling mill, in order to enable it to be removed easily fromthe mandrel.

Throughout the whole of the process, as far as hereinabove described,the cylinder should be kept at a red or nearly red heat, and it mayrequire to be reheated several times in a suitable furnace between thesuccessive manipulations; but the mandrels on which the rolling isperformed should be kept as cool as possible, and therefore will have tobe cooled after every longitudinal and succeeding circumferentialrolling. When the cylinder has been thus brought by successive alternatelongitudinal and circumferential rollings to a caliber and thicknessapproximating more or less to the caliber and thickness of the drawntube required, it may be cleaned by any suitable means to remove thescale, and is then subjected as many times as desirable to a drawingaction between triblets or mandrels and dies of the kind commonly used,and in the manner commonly practiced in cold-drawing metal cylinders andtubes,.forthe purpose of further reducing its thickness, and alsoreducing its caliber, if desired, to give it the thickness and caliberrequired, and also to give it, as described in my hereinabove mentionedLetters Patent, those desirable qualities of density, homogeneity,hardness, tenacity, and smoothness peculiar to cold-drawn metalcylinders and tubes.

If tubes are to be formed, the closed end left in the cylinder informing from a flat piece or blank may be cut off at any stage of themanufacture after the termination of the folding or turning-inoperations,which constitute the first of the three stages of thisprocess.

WVhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

The improvement in the art of manufacturing seamless cylinders'and tubesfrom disks or blanks of metal, consisting in first subjecting the metalin a hot state to the folding or turning-in operations necessary tochange its form from substantially fiat to cylindrical, afterwardsubjecting it in a hot state to alternate longitudinal'rollings andcircumferential rollings, and, finally, subjecting it in a cold state todrawing operations, substantially as and for the purpose herein setforth.

WM. HENRY BROWN.

Witnesses:

D. W. MOOREA, R. O. BABBITT.

